The invention concerns an underpressure surface gripping device comprising an extruded profile, a vacuum plate which is mounted parallel to the extruded profile, at least one flow through opening that connects the extruded profile to the vacuum plate, and an ejector as a vacuum generator.
Conventional underpressure surface griping devices of this type are e.g. produced by the companies Joulin and Tepro. A vacuum surface gripping system due to the Assignee is designated “FX”. In this vacuum surface gripping system, a vacuum generator and its mufflers are disposed on a holding plate. This holding plate also includes a structural valve component and a vacuum display. A vacuum plate is also mounted to the lower side of the holding plate for gripping the tool using vacuum. The overall device is mounted to a robot arm via a mounting bracket which extends over the components mounted to the holding plate, such that the workpiece which is gripped by the vacuum surface gripping system can be lifted and moved to another location. A vacuum surface gripper system of this type has, however, a large height, since the components such as vacuum generator, mufflers and the like are mounted to the holding plate. Due to the large height, the surface gripper system generates a large lever arm on the robot flange, which must always be taken into consideration in handling the workpiece. DE 10 2004 037 609 B3 discloses a vacuum beam which comprises an extruded profile containing a pre-storage chamber and a suction chamber. All functional parts are housed in the extruded profile. This vacuum beam is advantageous in that the functional parts are no longer provided on the outer side of the profile. However, the dimensions of the vacuum beam are still excessively large.